My nighttime routine

I was going to skip blogging today because I have got so so much work to do for uni this week, but then this afternoon I got blogger's guilt that I hadn't stuck to my Wednesday/Saturday schedule: so here is the post I had always intended to write anyway!

This is the second part of my routines - if you missed my morning routine post you can check it out here.

I've actually been really naughty recently and I haven't been sticking to this routine as well as I should have. I've really noticed the difference with my skin and so I'm determined to get back on track (you can read about this and my other goals for the remained of 2015 here).

I always try to be in bed by 12am, and often I'm in bed at 11pm! It really depends on how tired I feel.

The first thing I do is take off the majority of my makeup with some cotton wool pads (triple pack £3.00) and Garnier Cleansing Micellar Water (£4.99), focussing on my eye makeup. I use about between one and four cotton pads depending on how much makeup I'm wearing that day.

Next, for my second cleanse, I use The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil (£11.00) with a lukewarm, damp face cloth or muslin cloth (the same one as the morning, I then put it in my laundry bag and take a clean one the next day). I can't recommend this cleanser enough. It's really gentle, but at the same time it does an amazing job at breaking down whatever makeup you're wearing - particularly good after nights out, if I'm not too tired. It has removed all the paint from underneath where it sits on the shelf in my bathroom - I'm pretty sure this is because the type of paint is oil based, and this oil cleanser dissolves oil... anyway, it's heavy duty but doesn't irritate my skin.

If I'm too tired to take my makeup off after a night out, or I'm staying at my boyfriend's flat, I use the B. Pure Micellar Cleansing Wipes (£1.00). I got these free after spending a certain amount of money on Superdrug and I have to say I'm really impressed. Face wipes that I've used in the past have never left my skin feeling all that clean. These are obviously not as good as a proper double cleanse, but definitely do the job in a pinch.

Following on from cleanser, I use an acid toner. I'm currently using and loving the Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Exfoliating Facial Pads (£12.95 but often on offer). These pads contain glycolic acid and hyaluronic acid which act as an exfoliator. I honestly can't recommend switching to an acid toner instead of an exfoliator and a regular toner enough! I've raved about these before but let me just say that I didn't use these for a week and I noticed a huge difference in the texture of my skin!

To finish off in the bathroom I brush my teeth and use mouthwash - I've mentioned these products in my morning routine so I won't go into any more detail here.

I head upstairs next and use a stick deodorant: Sure Women Maximum Protection Cream Deodorant in Clean Scent (£4.99). This is a new product for me and the first twist up deodorant I've ever used but I have to say I really like it and I don't think I'll be going back to aerosols any time soon! It also smells like fresh laundry which is one of my favourite scents!

Next, moisturiser. I love The Body Shop Drops Of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask (£24.00). This seems really expensive and I thought long and hard about it before I purchased it. It's a huge tub that I've barely made a dent in as you need so little! I feel like I've spoken about this product before but I can't think when. The texture of this is, as the name suggests, bouncy. It does sit on the skin for a while and so if you're not careful you can end up stuck to your pillow but it's honestly worth it because it does such amazing things to your skin. I don't use this every night, maybe a few times a week.

Other nights I use a regular moisturiser: Nivea Visage Pure & Natural Regenerating Night Cream (£5.35). If I feel like my skin needs a little shot of moisture I will use The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-In-Oil (£15.00). Again, this is quite pricey for such a small bottle but you only need about two drops to cover your entire face.

I finish off my nighttime routine by applying some hand cream - I've currently got a miniature Soap&Glory Sugar Crush Hand Food (£2.50) sat beside my bed. I also use Burt's Bees Lip Balm with Honey (£3.99).

Wow that was a long one! Congratulations if you made it to the end.

What's one product you can't go to sleep without using?

The jeans which changed my mind

A bad experience with a pair of shorts completely put me off high waisted jeans. Sounds strange, but let me paint you a picture: they were high waisted, knee length, dark blue, denim shorts with three or four buttons instead of a zipper. God knows why I bought them when they made my hips look mahoooosive and were just generally unflattering and uncomfortable - not to mention difficult to get out of with all of those buttons.

I somehow got it into my head that high waisted jeans were unflattering on me, which is strange seeing as I practically live in my high waisted leggings and treggings from Topshop - shop leggings here (£15) and treggings here (£25).

Thank goodness there is a middle ground - Topshop calls them Joni jeans (£36-£45), New Look calls them Disco jeans (£15-£35) and River Island calls them Molly jeggings (£40). Basically, they're fab and the material is so comfortable to wear but they also look great!

I've rediscovered a love of jeans. And I couldn't be happier. Now I just need to go buy these in more colours! The ones I have are the Navy Disco Jeans from New Look (£19.99).

My main message of this post (besides my love of these jeans) is that if you think that there is a particular item of clothing or look that you don't think you can pull off, why not try it again or approach it in a different way? I can't believe I didn't buy these sooner. You might surprise yourself!

Thanks for reading!

6 movie survival tips you should ignore

I was on tumblr the other day and...
well if that's not a cracking first line to start a post with, I don't know what is. Have you worked out that this post is going to be super random and ranty yet? Let me start over, before I interrupted myself (??)

I was on tumblr the other day and I came across these "movie survival tips". I've handpicked some of the most useful/ridiculous ones to show you guys. You can find the original list of 22 here. Some of these I already knew were nonsense, like #4. and #6. and others I thought were genuinely true like #1. and #3.

Before we get started, I just want to say that I'm not a doctor or any kind of medical professional and the following is based on information that I got from reputable websites such the NHS website. If any of the information below is incorrect, please do let me know so I can change it.

#1. The way to treat a jellyfish sting is to pee on it
WRONG. This is unlikely to help and may make the situation worse (not to mention both parties are going to be hugely uncomfortable and awkward both during and after...). Doing this can actually activate unfired stinging cells which will make them release more poison. What you should do is carefully remove any stinging cells from the skin using a razor blade, credit card or shell and then use painkillers for the pain. Television has been lying to us, even good old Friends has it all wrong:

#2. To stop bleeding from a flesh wound, apply a tourniquet
WRONG. In Jurassic Park, Ian Malcolm applies a tourniquet to a flesh wound to stop the bleeding. A tourniquet stops blood flow to the entire leg which leads to tissue death, so if this was real life he would probably have lost his entire leg. You would be better simply applying pressure to the wound. Tourniquets should be left to those with proper training.

#3. When someone is having a seizure you should jam something into their mouth to stop them from swallowing their tongue
WRONG. Contrary to popular belief (and to what I thought until now) it is physically impossible to swallow your tongue. Your tongue is rooted to the floor of your mouth by a small mucous membrane called the lingual frenulum. Prying open someone's mouth and then jamming something into their mouth while they seize is going to end up injuring them. They could also potentially choke on whatever it is they now have in their mouth! The best thing to do is to let the person seize whilst protecting their head from impact and also roll them onto their left side into the recovery position to stop them from choking on their saliva or vomit.

#4. When you get a nose bleed, tip your head back
WRONG. My younger sister gets nose bleeds all the time so I like to think I'm a bit of an expert on this. If you tip your head back, the blood will rush down your throat and you'll probably choke on it. What you should do is sit down, lean forward and breathe through your mouth. Firmly pinch the soft part of your nose, just above your nostrils for 10 to 15 minutes. This allows the blood to drain down your nose rather than down your throat.

#5. If you're stuck somewhere without water, drink your own pee
WRONG. How does this even make sense!? Your pee is fluid from your body that is full of waste materials that your body needs to get rid off, such as salt. Don't put it back into your body! It will just make you even more dehydrated.

#6. Defibrillators bring people back to life
WRONG. This has to be one of the most annoying things to see, particularly in medical dramas on TV although it's also common in films too. Defibrillators work by temporarily stopping a still-beating heart in the hope that when it starts again it will start in the proper rhythm again. It's something I've only ever noticed since watching all 11 seasons of Grey's Anatomy this summer - they use the paddles while the heart is still beating, it just isn't beating in the normal rhythm. (Trust Grey's Anatomy to be doing it right) Using the paddles on a heart that has stopped is pointless, but that doesn't stop it from happening in other television shows and films.

This is a bit of a different post from me today, it's a little bit ranty but I hope it was also a little bit informative? I think I'm going to try to do one post per week about something that in the vaguest sense you could call lifestyle and then one or two posts per week about beauty things. Sound good? And I promise not so many random posts like this one. Thanks for reading!

What's in my bag? - night out edition

I thought that this would be a good post to do as it's a wee bit different to normal "what's in my bag?" posts and it's also clear that for nights out you need a completely different set of things to what you need during the day. It's also freshers week for a lot of people at the moment or in the coming weeks so I hope this is helpful to some of you.

I know that a lot of my friends don't take a bag out with them and instead just stuff everything down their bra but I don't like to do this because (a) I don't have a whole lot of room in that department and (b) I would hate to lose something because it fell out while I was dancing (my friends and I do tend to go a bit crazy with our dancing in clubs, c'mon it's the one time of the week when we can let loose).

My bag is from H&M and it was only £7.99, I know that it's quite plain but because of this that means it goes with every outfit I wear out. I also really love the gold detailing on the zip. I couldn't find the exact one online but I found two similar ones here and here (£7.99 each).

Now onto what I actually keep in my bag! In the tiny zippered inside pocket I keep things I probably won't need but that I like to have: plasters, hair grips and a condom. The condom isn't necessarily for me as I'm not the type of person to go home with a different guy every night I've been out to a club (although nothing wrong with that, you do you), but in my mind it's good to be sensible and prepared and have one just in case. Also if one of my friends didn't have one, then I could give them that one. Safe sex is so important guys!

In the main part of my bag I keep:

• my purse
• my keys
• my phone - Samsung Galaxy S6
• a form of ID - usually my driving license but I don't have it at the moment as I'm waiting for my full license to be posted out to me, so currently I'm using my passport
• chewing gum - even if I wasn't a serial gum chewer I would always carry some, incase of a wee kiss with someone or much, much more likely, your mate throws up and needs something to take the taste away....
• an extremely battered face powder (Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder £3.99) and a teeny and very old No7 powder brush
• my lipstick of choice for the evening, this one is Rimmel Kate Lipstick Shade 22 (£5.49), it's a gorgeous pillar box red

In my purse I have cash, my AAA card (free entry to my favourite club in Aberdeen), usually my driving license and my bank card. I know some people don't take their bank card out with them but I would hate to be stranded in town with no money for a taxi home so I always take mine out with me. It also acts as a second form of ID (some reaaaally strict places ask me for a second form of ID, probably since I look about 15).

So that's what I take out with me on a night out! Let me know in the comments if you guys think I've missed anything essential! Oh - and I always make sure I have taxi numbers saved to my phone, just incase the taxi rank is empty. Stay safe guys, and hope you're having a fantastic week!

New Season New Me

Let me just start off by saying: OH EM GEE IT'S SEPTEMBER IT'S FINALLY AUTUMN!!!
I love love love Autumn. I don't mind the cold (I'm Scottish for goodness sake), the evenings start to get a big darker but it isn't dark by 3:30pm like it is in the middle of December and finally, oh finally, I can wear ankle boots and dark lipstick again. The joys.

Anyhow, this post is not meant to be about my love for the changing seasons. I'm writing down some thoughts that I've been having recently regarding my health and fitness. By posting this here I'm hoping to maybe inspire some of you guys to make some of my goals your own, as I'm pretty sure there's something for everyone in the extensive list I've got going on below. Also, it will hopefully give me the kick up the bum motivation that I need to hopefully achieve the majority of them!

(follow my instagram toast_oclock, also in this photo I'm sat on a bench in the park recovering from a run haha)

GOAL №1: Drink the appropriate amount of liquid
I came across this fab little hydration calculator where you input your age, height and weight and it tells you how much you should be drinking every day (obviously depending on your level of physical activity you may need to increase this). I'm recommended to drink 7 glasses per day, or 1.6 litres.The great thing is is that any non-alcoholic drink counts towards this - I've always found it a bit tricky to guzzle down litre after litre of water but luckily I get about half from the other drinks I drink during the day (milk, fruit juice, fruit tea). It's also recommended that someone my age should drink 3 glasses of milk per day, although since I love milk I definitely already get this.

GOAL №2: Eat my 5-A-day
Yes, this is probably the most obvious one on anyone's healthy living goals but it's something that I've been working towards more recently (and hope to continue). My only issue is that it can be expensive to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

GOAL №3: Prepare more meals at home
Last year I occasionally skipped breakfast when I was running late for lectures and I've been guilty of going to Subway for a foot long at lunchtime to make up for skipping breakfast. It's not only unhealthy, but also expensive. This year I'm determined to eat breakfast at home every day and to have a packed lunch for the days I'm at university over lunchtime. I'm pretty good at preparing home cooked meals for dinner, but I need to make sure I'm getting the recommendation of 2 portions of fish (one oily) per week.

GOAL №4: Exercise for 60 minutes
I've got plans to get a gym membership at the university sports village as we get ridiculous student discounts and fitness classes are also included in this. I'm hoping to go there most days of the week and also go for more runs when the weather is nice, or do at home workouts when the weather is bad. It's also a fair walk to uni (even further to the gym) from my house, but I'm not including that in this.

GOAL №5: Get a better night's sleep
I'm going to put my hands up here and admit that I've essentially become nocturnal in the past week. I stayed up late one night and after that my sleep schedule has been a wreck. I also have been sleeping way too much which just makes me feel lethargic all day. I'm going to aim for between 8 and 9 hours each night.

I'm going to be posting weekly updates letting you guys know how I am getting on, and also as a record for myself. Let me know in the comments your thoughts!

#goodadvice

I was doing my daily read through of the blogs that I'm subscribed to (I use bloglovin' and I 100% recommend it if you are a blogger or just a reader of several blogs, it's fab)...where was I? Right, so I was reading through and I came across this post on Raashi's blog. I hope that she doesn't mind, but it inspired me to write my own version of her post.

The advice is to find three hobbies that you love: one to make you money, one to keep you in shape, and one to be creative. I've found recently that it's so important to focus on the positives in your life and this advice is a great way of doing just that!

One to make you money

I'm about to go back to university in a few weeks for my second year of my degree, and although this isn't necessarily a hobby I did struggle last year with negative thoughts of whether I had chosen the right degree or not. I can now say, with confidence, that I am definitely doing the right degree. Biochemistry is so so interesting, I love learning how the body works on a chemical level.

I also will hopefully be tutoring again next year which I really enjoy as when the person who I tutor does well it really makes me feel amazing - I get particularly invested in other people's successes and it's incredibly rewarding.

One to keep you in shape

This is one hobby that is going to become a much bigger part of my life when I go back to university. For a short while last year I was really into jogging several times a week, then I sprained my ankle (not while jogging haha) and now every time I go for a run it becomes clear how weak my ankle is now. I'm determined to get back into it though.

One to be creative

My creative hobby has got to be this blog. My Slice is a place that I am very proud of - yes it needs more work in a lot of areas including blog photography, design and content but I am confident that with time this will all start to come together. I'm also in my spare time learning a little bit of HTML and CSS (that scary looking code that web pages use) and I am sure that this will also help me to improve the appearance of my blog.


I would love to hear what you guys have to talk about for your three hobbies (I know I really did more than three tut tut). So if you write a blog post similar to mine and Raashi's then link it below, or alternatively, leave a comment with your hobbies.

The Blog Tour Award

Hello!

Okay, I know I said that I wasn't planning on posting this week but that was before I was nominated by the lovely Georgie Watts to do the blog tour award.

Blog Tour Award Rules:
1. Pass the tour to at least four other bloggers.
2. Give your nominees the rules and specify the Monday in which they should post their nomination answers.
3. Answer the four questions about your creative process, which allows other bloggers and visitors to understand what inspires you to do what you do.
4. Compose this one-time post on a specific Monday.


Q1) How does your work differ from others in your genre?
I would say that my blog differs because I write about a lot of different topics - so I guess you can't describe my blog as just one thing. Yes, it's similar to a beauty blog in a lot of ways but I also write about my experiences in life and at university, as well as about films, music and books, to name a few. I like to call it a lifestyle blog because that pretty much covers everything.

Q2) How does your writing/creative process work?
A lot of ideas for posts hit me during my day-to-day life, and usually when I'm not at my laptop. I write them down on my phone, sometimes as post titles, others as sentences I want to include and some just as random thoughts that probably need focussed a little better before I write about them! I also get a lot of inspiration from other blogs, on bloglovin I have a collection of saved posts entitled inspiration. Then at the start of the month I sit down and spend some time deciding which posts to write that month and on which days - vital if you're posting almost every day like I am. I usually schedule a few day's posts at a time if I can, and I usually write the whole post in one sitting, then add the photos and do a final read through the next day.

Q3) Why do you write and create what you do?
I love reading other blogs so much that I wanted to show the world what I could write about and what I had to say. And I began to love blogging so much that I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. It's become a hobby that I get so much enjoyment out of.

Q4) What are you working on at the minute?
Outside of writing, I've started driving lessons and been applying for part-time jobs. I've also been actually writing my novel (the plan for it has been sitting untouched for months). I'm also learning to do this posting six days a week craziness that I decided to do. I've grown to love blogging so much, and although I haven't told many people that I know about it I hope soon that I will have the confidence to share my blog with more of my friends and family. 


Nominations:
Ema - All The Good Blog Names Were Taken
Tara Neill - Dancing Through Life
Louise - Of Love and Lipstick
Tara - Tara's Floral World
Al White - Miss Makeup Tips

Oh and I'll give everyone until Monday the 27th of July to complete their answers! Thank you again Georgie for the nomination.

My first driving lesson

Hello!

I feel like I've waited for far too long to start learning to drive, which is ridiculous because I'm only 18 and several of my friends haven't even started yet, let alone passed! I just remember being in my last year of high school where everyone was learning and passing theory tests and practical tests left right and centre, and now Facebook has quieted down so much with everyone posting that they've passed that I feel it's old news now to be learning!

To be fair to myself, I was the youngest in the year and wasn't 17 until the very end of the year by which time I was sitting my advanced higher exams (basically first year university level and almost equivalent to A levels in England). Learning to drive took a bit of a back seat in my mind. Then I went to university in a huge big city and just thought: NO. WAY. IN. HELL. am I learning to drive here.

But I'm home to my town for the summer and I thought, might as well. I've no other commitments this summer so I can focus on it entirely. I decided to do a semi-intensive course which are offered by a lot of driving schools. Basically I'm learning to drive in 3 weeks! (The intensive course is ONE WEEK!). It's 5 lessons of 2 hours a week and I arranged to start it as soon as I'm back from visiting my Granda.

Then my driving instructor was dropping off a DVD to help me study for the theory test and offered to take me out for my first lesson the next day, separate from the semi-intensive course. I didn't even have time to be nervous.

He drove me to a huge car park, which was fairly empty although did get a bit of lunchtime traffic. The first hour was basically chatting and safety, learning the inside of the car first. Then the second hour was me driving around the car park, steering around lampposts and parked cars and pretty much stalling every five minutes. A direct quote from the day was:

"Me: Oh crap oh crap oh oh we're going awfully fast aren't we?"
"Instructor: Emma, you've reached a top speed of 8mph."

It feels a lot faster when you're just learning believe me! Although on the second lesson I was going 60mph on a country road. I was told I would improve quickly but seriously!

Let me know in the comments about your experiences learning to drive. I can't wait to start my semi-intensive course now!

15 things I learned during my first year at university

Welcome to my first student-ey tips post. This series is going to focus on my tips for students - life hacks, money saving and university information. Even if you're not at university, I'm sure you could benefit from some of the tips!

1. You aren't going to click with everyone you meet.
This is most clear during Fresher's week when you meet dozens and dozens of new people at every flat party you go to. You don't have to like everyone and you sure as hell don't have to be liked by everyone. Make the effort to get on with your flatmates, and the people you do get on with will stick around and become your closest friends.

2. Takeout is going to become an essential part of your week.
More often than not, in our flat, we ended up having takeout during the week rather than at weekends. Sometimes we had both. When you've had a ridiculously hard day and you can't be bothered cooking you will find someone willing to order takeout with you. Domino's Two for Tuesday is a student favourite.

3. You aren't going to make it to every 9am lecture (or every 4pm lecture for that matter).
I got an A and I went to my 4pm lecture twice out of the eleven weeks. I mean, I was pulling all nighters before the exam, but I got to go home at 2pm every Thursday instead of 5pm. A good swap in my mind.

4. A sleeping pattern is no longer something you will have.
You will abuse the fact that your parents are no longer there to send you to bed at 11pm every night. And when it's 3am and there's only 2 episodes left in the season of the TV series you're watching you think, ehhhh, might as well get it finished. I'll go to my 9am lecture next week.

5. Cereal works for every meal.
As a result of number 4, lunch will be the first meal of your day. So then by midnight, you'll be starving. Hence, cereal or toast at midnight. Alone at first, until you invite a flatmate that you know will also be up at that time. Sometimes, you'll invite a guy round for toast o'clock. It's an important milestone, sharing your favourite time of day with someone. And it's ten times better after a night out.

6. Eat and drink something after a night out.
Toast o'clock and a pint of water is my secret to being hangover free the next morning. Trust me on this. No nausea or headaches. Jobs a gid'un.

7. You will calculate the cost of everything by how many drinks it is worth.
£15 is no longer £15. It's an entire bottle of vodka. Or it's 5 doubles.

8. Pre-drinks are sometimes the best part of the night.
You're with your nearest and dearest, you get to choose what music is playing and it's at a volume that you can actually hear yourself think. Oh and did I mention drinking games? Nuff said.

9. Throwing up before a night out is not frowned upon rather congratulated.
Drinks at home are cheaper than a bar or a club, so the more you drink at home, the cheaper your night is going to be. And if that leads you to have a tac-tac-chun-chun (tactical chunder for those not familiar) then you are a legend.

10. You feel more loyal to your halls than to your country.
Everyone not in your halls is an idiot for not being there and their halls are subpar.

11. There is no doubt that the rival university is the worst university in the country.
There is always a rivalry between universities in the same city. Nothing serious, just a bit of light hearted teasing of everyone you meet from the other uni.

12. There will always be someone willing to have a drink with you.
Always.

13. Don't mix your favourite soft drink with alcohol. It will ruin it.
I haven't been able to drink Irn Bru since.

14. Eating raw jelly cubes is the same as an energy tablet.
Honest to god. When you've run out of Lucozade tablets and Pro-plus tablets and you need to pull an all-nighter to pass your exam the next day, don't resort to a spoonful of coffee (icky) when a single jelly cube will do the trick.

15. Everyone has one thing they can't do when drunk.
Most people can't text when drunk, others can't form coherent sentences or keep their eyes open or stop themselves from crying. Everyone has a thing. After a broken nose and a sprained ankle this year and 10 hours total spent in the hospital, I've come to the conclusion that I can't stand upright when I've been drinking. I wasn't even in heels.